


Waking Dreams

by Katrina



Series: Katrina's H/C Bingo: Round 9 [16]
Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, H/C bingo, Hallucinations, Spiders, well one spider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-08
Updated: 2018-08-08
Packaged: 2019-06-23 19:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15613797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katrina/pseuds/Katrina
Summary: Sometimes, memories refused to stay in one's head.





	Waking Dreams

Frodo twisted, trying to work free of the webbing that tangled him. He was wrapped tight, and could feel the hard jabs of the giant spiders feet as it spun him around and around. 

Then there was nothing but pain. A sharp jab to his body. It was a burn, a deep, throbbing spike of cold fire that spread through his chest and left numbness behind. Then his face was covered, and Frodo found he could not breathe.

“Mr. Frodo! It’s okay. You’re okay!”

Sam’s voice cut through the vision that Frodo found himself caught up in. He still wasn’t able to break out of the horrible sight in front of his eyes right away. He was still trapped in cold and sticky threads, an aching throb in his limbs.

Then he felt the warmth of Sam’s hands, and the hobbit was able to take a deep breath. One, and then a second. Then Frodo found himself going limp. 

“S-Sam?” he got out, voice tight and faint. Still could not breath properly, but it was getting easier. Blinking, darkness was replaced by the golden light of late afternoon. He could hear the children playing, not the echoing rattles of the giant spider Shelob gleeing over her prey. 

There was a shift, and Sam shifted his hands on Frodo, helping the older hobbit sit up. “Are you all right, Mr. Frodo? You went all stiff and funny, then you made a noise as if you couldn’t breath. I barely kept you from falling straight onto the ground.”

Still trying to smooth his breathing out, Frodo nodded. He still kept having a weird hiccup at the end of each lungful of air. He did take a moment to simply lean on Sam for a long moment. It was a pose that had happened more than once on their long journey, and he was grateful. Sam was still as rock steady as ever, and it helped ground Frodo in reality. It was a little hard, knowing if he had been in his safe hobbithole in the Shire, or back in the dark cave of a great spider. Sam being there helped.

“I had a dark dream,” Frodo admitted, hand coming up to curl shaking fingers around Sam’s wrist. It was warm, and the younger hobbit’s pulse beat under Frodo’s fingers. That was good, and he looked up to meet concerned eyes. “I will be fine, Sam. Gandalf warned me that I might have these. I am glad you were here with me when this happened.”

There was a thin, worried smile from Sam, and then he worked on getting them both off the floor. “Not a proper place for either of us,” he said, chiding Frodo when the other hobbit seemed content to keep sitting there. “Let’s get you in a chair, and I’ll make us tea.”

Before their trip, Sam would have never invited himself to tea, but Frodo was glad that much had changed. He and Sam had grown close, and it was good for them both. Frodo already had plans for the future, and it involved Sam being comfortable at considering this as his home. 

It did not take long for them to both be in the chairs by the fireplace, drinking the tea. The hot drink helped sooth away the last of the cold in Frodo’s chest, and he had to smile at Sam.

If there was ever a true hero in Frodo’s world, it would be Samwise Gamgee.


End file.
